Re: VW & BMX What Gives?

I am the owl... wrote:

Reliable? The few people I know around here that have owned them have had nothing but problems....

Yea i had a girl friend who had a Jetta and that thing was a P.O.S ...

I am a proud american , and i have always drove american cars, till i started driving 60 miles to work each way , so i coped out and bought a Honda Civic , Now that is a Good Dependable , good gas mileage car .... i got it with 79k and now it has 136k i have yet to even do the brakes ... My 1st Honda has been more dependable then any jeep , chevy ,buick , dodge or olds i ever had ....

With all the money GM & Ford is loosing its no wonder , if i was to buy new i would hate to say it but i would be looking at Honda , Toyota !!!

Re: VW & BMX What Gives?

i rock a VW...the cars look great with bike racks on the roof...and even BETTER with old school bmx bikes on that roofrack haha, i do also have a '67 stang though so i flirt with both sides of the gun

edit: i am much more of a ford guy (note the SVT contour in the background that is my DD) but the VW is just so much fun, turbo 6-speed recaro racing seats and pretty damn fast too - fast than the stang and the svt

Re: VW & BMX What Gives?

I've had a few V Dubyas over the years. Right now, I'm looking to get another. They are a blast to drive, great on gas though I've thought some were more reliable than others. However, that's true with most any car. I agree Honda's are very reliable, and get incredible mileage, but I've cut a few people out of them and just haven't been impressed. I'm no safety expert, I just run with what I see. I see a lot of bad wrecks. Right now we have Land Rover Disco 2, and an older Jeep Grand Cherokee. I've seen both take huge hits and even flip and folks have been OK. I've personally totalled 2 VW's and been very happy with the way they held up(I'm a terrible driver). These days I'd rather my wife and I drive cars that are safe(in my opinion) rather than super reliable. That said, we're losing the Jeep for an older GTI. A fun, gas friendly, and solid little car.

Re: VW & BMX What Gives?

yeah, there's just something about vw's thats addicting as bikes are. until i moved to colorado, i had 3 of them. i had a 95 jetta that i converted to german spec, a stock 91 gli, and a gutted 79 german rabbit with a 1.8 16v swap... that car would destroy my turbo subaru and still got almost 40mpg. like i said, there is just something about them.

Re: VW & BMX What Gives?

BMX'rs appreciate great engineering and design. German's bring that to their cars and v-dubs are one of the few accessible and affordable opportunities to own a well crafted german car. Plus, you can tweak them pretty easily and make them even better.

Re: VW & BMX What Gives?

V-dubs are built like bank vaults. They do have excellent chassis. That being said, they used the same damn beam axle rear suspension from 1977 to 2006. I've had 3, a 63 Beetle, an 82 Cabrio and an 83 GTI. They were all great fun to drive in completely different ways. They were not reliable by any definition of the word that I am aware of.

I also had a hot rod Honda CRX that I rebuilt from the ground up, motor/tranny swap etc. which was by far the most fun car I've ever had (unless I was on the interstate. Then it sucked ass.). It ran mid 14s in the quarter, handled like a go kart, would spin 7500 RPM ALL DAY LONG and still delivered 30 mpg. My mom looked at me like I had 2 heads when I told her I was gonna put a full roll cage in the CRX. When she asked me why I wanted the cage, I told her I had seen what happened to a CRX when it backed into a bridge abuttment at 70mph, and I really liked the idea of not being completely squished. That car was normal from the bumper to the cowl, and from the cowl to the rear bumper was about 2 ft. long after that crash.

Re: VW & BMX What Gives?

My wife owned an 85 quamtum 5 cyl that was a decent reliable car except for the tranny work we put iinto it. She was hit head on by a truck pulling a load of lumber and she survived without injury. We have since had an older Scirocco (timing chain went out unexpectedly) I loved that car but sold it after it broke and bought a new Jetta in 2000. Juts traded it off for a mini van 2 yrs ago due to an increase in my household population. Now I am looking tto sell off my 2000 Jimmy and buy a GTI or something vw with a hatch back.

I get this question often so here it is to save everyone time. I do not have any Mongoose DMC decals left. I was lucky enough to find a small bunch of NOS decal sets in an old bike shop that no longer exists and I have since sold them all. Sorry. I wish you all the best of luck with your DMC builds.

Re: VW & BMX What Gives?

People say that VW's are unreliable, but I can't think of a time a water cooled VW has left me stranded. Sure things like door locks break, electric motors go bad, and interior lights go out. Sometimes they have bigger problems, but overall I'll take the occasional headache. The grins far outnumber them.

Re: VW & BMX What Gives?

Yeah, I think its all about the engineering, fit, and design elegance of Euro cars. They're nothing like the muscle of real American V8's, but a whole different thing. But the fit of the parts & the ergonomics are a lot like the beauty in the old parts we like - the curves of a Suzue hub... the butterfly-shaped welds on a 'goose's gusset... the perfect spin of a true wheel inside a pair of well-adjusted brake pads... a new chain with just the right tension... those are all like the way a European car's door closes or the steering wheel turns or the engine's hoses are routed around.

American cars (the good ones) are engineered to have a totally different feel. Not to open a can of worms, but they've always reminded me more of the higher-end firearms: all bore & angles & pins & perfectly machined screws & forward-leaning geometry.

Japanese cars (and yes, I've owned plenty & really like Subarus anyway) are more like appliances - all the charm of a refrigerator, but you don't want that thing failing, either.

So Euro-cars = bikes. IMO, yes, the feel of the engineering is the same. And why VW's? Because we're bike guys, we can't afford BMW's and Benzes, we spent all our money on eBay.

Re: VW & BMX What Gives?

I don't think its just a Cali thing. I owned a Mk 1 Golf GTi up until 18 months ago. It made a nice noise out the back, and never gave me a problem for the 2 years i had it. I have a Citroen Xsara at the moment, but i'd be keen to trade it in for a VR5 within the next couple of months. We'll see how it goes. I can't afford to run an American car unfortunately... Stateside imports are damn expensive here. I'd rather watch them go round in ovals on tv....

Last edited by chchbender (2008-06-07 2:10am)

Real Revolution starts at learning. If you are not angry, you are not paying enough attention -Tim McIlrath One love for all bikes from all eras

Re: VW & BMX What Gives?

i had a '99 jetta wolfsburg up until a year ago.. honestly it was a pain in the ass. So many little dumb things would go wrong. A lot of german cars have lots of little electrical things that go wrong for some reason.

Re: VW & BMX What Gives?

I had a '68 fastback for a while. Really cool looking car, especially when lowered a bit and slap on some empi wheels. Things was cheap on gas, but not the most comfortable car. But then again, I also have a '67 Mustang and that's not much more comfortable either. I like their shape and detail. That's what makes them so classic IMO. I'd love to get another one or a notchback even better. I'd even "settle" with a 21-window bus!!